A Different Life
by smasher2k
Summary: A mother as a sister. Grandparents as Parents. Rory has been living a different life, but that is all about to change. A/U Obviously but give it a chance.
1. Chapter 1

**A Different Life**

A/N: A What if story. Instead of being raised by Lorelai, Rory was raised by her grandparents who she always believed were her parents and that Lorelai was just her much old sister. AU of course.

Chapter 1

Rory's eyes slowly opened at the sound of light tapping echoing around her room. Groaning slightly when a patch of light which was streaming through a chink in the curtains hit her eyes. Looking around the room she was reminded yet again to speak to her Mother about decorating the room to get read of some of the more child like aspects which were still left in the room. Perhaps she could suggested the her mother did it as her birthday present considering how close it was. Whilst she loved certain items in the room, there was only so many dolls she could stomach at her age. Of course there was going to be two items which were exempted. The doll house which took pride of place and the stuffed chicken toy which always sat on the end of her bed.

"Rory, Dear." Emilys voices sang out throughout the room "It's time to get up and go to school."

"Okay Mom." Rory called out as she started to pull the covers down on her bed and execrate herself from them.

"Breakfast will be on the table in 10 minutes."

"Sure thing." Rory said knowing she would yet again hurry to get ready to stick to her mothers timetable. Sometimes she marvelled at her mothers very traditionally ways and never veering timetable. Never much so when it came to her very much so non traditionally name considering how right and proper her parents were when it come to there lives and also hers.

She had of course questioned them on this and she was told that her name had been chosen by her older sister as they had promised her due to the very large age gap that she would have some involvement considering she would no longer be an only child.

She mused slightly about it for a moment. Rory Lorelai Gilmore. She loved her name. She had no idea where the Rory part had come from but it was very unique and she adored it. And the Lorelai bit was from her sister and her grandmother. She always though it was strange that her middle name was the same as her sibling but as it was a family name she though that it was included so she could have part of the family legacy in her name.

She scurried around her room and grabbed her Chilton Uniform before diving into her bathroom to get washed and ready for the day ahead.

Rory rushed down the stairs and into the dining room fearful that her mother would notice that she was running late.

She spied her father at the head of the table his head buried in The Wall Street Journal as normal. Hearing the sound of Rory hurrying across the floor his eyes looked up above the top of the newspaper.

"Ahh Rory" Richard said his eyes twinkling as normal Rory was skimming it to get to breakfast. "There you are."

Rory slowed down and walked across to Richard leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning Dad"

"Morning Dear" Richard replied as Rory went to her assigned seat.

Emily walked into the room. A cup of coffee in her right hand she walked past everyone lightly touching Rory on the shoulder as she passed her and took her normal seat at the table carefully placing her coffee cup on the table.

Looking across at Rory she spoke.

"So what plans do you have today?"

"The Normal Mom. Class and then the library after school. I have a group project for English due at the end of the week and we need to meet up to start working on it."

"Excellent. So who are you working with this time?" Emily questioned back.

"The normal group." Rory said taking a deep breath waiting for the response to one of the names. "Paris, Louise, Madeline, Brad and um Tristan."

"Tristan?" Emily questioned her right eyebrow raised.

"Yes Mom, Tristan." Rory responded waiting for the inevitable conversation.

"I thought I talked to you about hanging out with that boy. He is not the type of boy I wish for you to associate with at all." Emily was well aware of the playboy reputation that Tristan had and would on many occasions would do her darnedest to make sure Rory stayed away from him and other boys like him.

Rory blanched at that comment. She never understood why her parents had such a big problem with her being around boys. On many occasions she felt that she was being wrapped up in cotton wool up until the point where her parents has pretty much made it clear that she was not allowed to date at all. Something which confused her as she knew her older sister had dated at her age. She knew about Christopher her sisters boyfriend when she was her age from her Mom's group of friends which means that something had happened in the sixteen years since her sister had been her age.

"I know. But as I said before Mom, my English teacher keeps to the same project groups throughout the academic year so I will be working with the same group of people till next academic year. There is nothing I can do about being paired about him."

Richard rustled his newspaper and folded it up placing it to the side of him.

"Emily dearest, It is nothing but a school project and she will be studying at the library with a group. It is not like she is going to a party with that boy."

Emily exhaled and nodded across to her husband sensing he was telling her to back of from this in case it turned into something else.

"My apologies Rory, If it is for a class project and you had no choice about your group members then I shouldn't see a problem with you being around Tristan and your other friends so you can complete this work. Just ensure you are back promptly for dinner tonight. Some business colleagues of your father will be dining with us tonight and I want to make sure your are properly attired for the evening.

"Sure Mom." Rory said grabbing a piece of toast from the centre of the table and placing it on the plate in front of her before reaching across for the butter.

"I have some news for you Rory."

"What's that Dad?"

"As you are aware you sixteenth birthday is coming up quite soon and that me and your mother will be throwing you a sweet sixteen party for it. Well your sister Lorelai has been in touch to say she will be will definitely attending."

"Brilliant!" Rory exclaimed. She loved when her sister came for a visit; unfortunately those visits were few and far between. Lorelai has left home, or more correctly run away from home not so long after she had been born. Rory had never been told the true reason why all she knew that the relationship between Lorelai and there parents were extremely strained and that her sister left suddenly after a major disagreement. Since that point she lived and worked in a small town called Star Hallows not far from Hartford. Apart from a few visits when she was very young to where her sister worked she know only saw her sister on holidays and without fail on her birthday. Her birthday but never her parents.

"I though that would make you happy. Now eat up, time is getting away from you and you need to get to school."

Rory pulled into the driveway outside her home after what had been the day from hell. Tristan has been his normal charming self flirting a storm with her. And Paris, well Paris had gone nuclear about the project and how much work they had to do between now and Friday.

As she was just undoing her seatbelt her cell phone started to ring. She snapped it open without reading the screen knowing instantly who it was going to be.

"Yes Paris."

"Gilmore. I need you to come back to the library there is still stuff that we need to work on for this project. I cannot believe you are shirking your work in this caviller manner."

"There is no shirking. I told you Paris that my Mom wanted my home for dinner tonight and there would be no circumstances that would get me out."

"But the project..." Paris tried to interject. She may be Rorys best friend but on some occasions she did drive her to the point of insanity.

"I know about the Project and I know its importance. But if I don't go to this dinner my Mom will probably ground me for a year with the only time I would be allowed out of my room will be for meals and school. You kow how strict my Mom is."

Paris exhaled loudly down the speaker of her phone. She had seen on many occasions how strict Emily Gilmore was when it came to Rory. She had always though it was a bit strange considering the stories she had heard about how wild her older sister was when she was a child.

"Okay" She said begrudgingly. "Go, Eat Dinner, Talk to you parents. But as soon as it is over I want you in the phone. Considering how much attention Madeline, Louise and Tristan were not paying we may have our work cut out on this."

"Thank you Paris! As soon as Dinner is over I will be on the phone. Anyway Brad seemed to be paying attention. Call him, he maybe able to help you get started on this. "

"Don't make me laugh! He barely can say two words to me!."

"I wonder why. In one sentence you threatened to punch both him and his Rabbi. Look Paris. I'm home now. I need to go and get ready."

"Fine Go Rory. Make certain it is straight after Dinner. Skip the cheese plate if you can, we need to get to work on this straight away."

"Bye Paris." Rory said laughing slightly as she closed her phone and stashed it back in her bag. Paris had been the same since they were kids in Kindergarten. Always worrying about school and her grades.

Grabbing her book bag and her keys she stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door quickly unlocking and stepping in. She stood in the entry way and was about to call out when she heard the voices of two people speaking. One voice been her Mothers and the other one she recognised as her sister Lorelai. She knew it was rude to stand and listen in but the next sentence pulled her in and she couldn't help herself.

"You Promised Mom." Lorelai said pleading at Emily.

"I did no such thing Lorelai, I said when that point in time came up we would discuss the situation and the best course of action in regards to it."

"Well I am here and I am discussing it. And I want to go ahead with it. That's my decision Mom."

"It's not the right time. She is not ready for it. We need to take our time with this. It is a big thing"

Lorelai started to yell and Rory stepped closer to the sitting room door getting more intrigued at the whole conversation.

"If you had your own way it would never be the right time. Every-time I bring this up you keep on saying this and I bet you will carry on doing this. When is it going to be the right time 2 years, 5 years or maybe if you have you way never? This has got to come out sometime Mom regardless of what you say."

Emily's voice picked up and she almost started to yell as well.

"You have no right to push our hand in regards to this Lorelai. Rory is our daughter and we will make the decision about this not you."

Rory moved even closer to the sitting room door, because of Emilys statement she know knew that her Mother and her sister were having an argument about her and she wanted to find out desperately what Lorelai wanted to tell her.

"That is where you wrong Mom. I am your daughter no matter how much at times I wish I wasn't. But she is not. She is my daughter, she was my daughter when I gave birth to her almost sixteen years. You and Dad are her grandparent not her parents. She only thinks you are her parents because you took her from me, you gave me no choice, you faked a pregnancy and sent me away so your precious society would believe that she was your child not mine. You never asked me if it was something I wanted to do. As soon as you found out I was pregnant the decision was made. You were going to be her Mother regardless of my feelings. Well time is up. She is going to find out regardless of your feelings."

Rory was stunned by Lorelai's last sentence and her bag and her keys slipped from her grasp clattering loudly onto the floor beside her.

Emily and Lorelai took a few steps towards the doorway after hearing that sound and spied Rory standing there a stunned look on her face and was visibly shaking with emotion.

They both realised that Rory had overheard them. They hadn't been aware at all that Rory had even been in the house. When Lorelai has arrived only a few minutes earlier than Rory she had been advised that Rory was studying in the library after school for some class project.

"Oh Rory." Lorelai said noticing the emotion which was over her. This was not the way she wanted her to find out. She had had it all planned, how she was going to tell her. How she was going to explain what had happened and what had gone on all those years ago.

Looking up into Lorelai's eyes Rory spoke quietly. Unsure now in her voice and in the person she was

"What you said it's not true, right. You can't be. Mum and Dad are my parents and you are just my much older sister. Not my mother."

Stepping forward Lorelai walked towards her and clasped her shoulders lightly to stop her shaking.

"What you heard is true. I am your Mother Rory. I have always been your mother regardless of what you were brought up to believe."

Rory pulled back out of Lorelai's touch tears streaming down her face.

"You are not my mother! Emily is my mother. You are nothing but my sister who never has any dealings with this family at all."

With that Rory made a bolt for the stairs running up them extremely quickly , this was followed by the sound of Rory's bedroom door slamming.

Lorelai turned round to face her mother. Tears welling in her eyes and what Rory has spat out at her. She knew that it was not going to be easy when Rory would of found out the truth. But to her this felt like a punch to the stomach. She spotted the stony expression on her mothers face and just waited for her words to come out.

"See Lorelai, See what your precious truth has done. That Girls did not deserve to find out that way. By you yelling at me!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rory was sitting on the top of the covers of her bed. Her arms wrapped around her knees hugging herself whilst the tears streamed down her face. In the space of a few seconds her life had been changed forever. Her sheltered existence had been shattered around her and she was reeling from all the thoughts which were pounding incessantly around her head.

She could hear the sounds of her Mother and sister yelling at each from down the stairs. There voices carrying clearly throughout the cadaverous wall of the Gilmore Mansion. Rory shook her head slightly and fixed the thought that had just come across it just a moment ago. It wasn't her mother and sister who was arguing. It was her mother and grandmother. Something that seemed inconceivable to her.

When she thought of Lorelai she did not see or think of her as any maternal figure at all. She was just Lorelai. Her quirky much older sister, a rebellious woman who did not enjoy or covet the world of society which the Gilmore family revelled in. One thought that was coming up regularly was her calculation on how young Lorelai had been given birth. She was only Thirty Two years old now. No age. And as for herself weeks away from her Sixteenth birthday which meant Lorelai had been her age when she fell pregnant and gave birth.

She knew she should be angry with both of them. They had been systemically lying to her since the moment she was born but she was more angry that she had lost her sense of identity and self.

The voices had stopped and she heard the sound of footsteps heading towards her room and then they sound of tapping on her bedroom door.

"GO AWAY!" She yelled out

"Rory. Please let me in, we need to talk." Lorelai's voice carried through it.

"No. I told you to go away."

"If that's what you want Rory, That's fine. Just be aware that I will just sit outside this door until the time you decide that you want to speak to me."

Rory sighed and unwrapped herself. Placing her feet on the floor she pushed herself up and walked across to the door and pulled it up.

"Fine. Come in and talk. Explain how I am not calling your Mom."

Lorelai strode into the room unsure what to do with herself. This was not the first time that she had been in Rory's bedroom but it was the first time since Rory knew the truth.

Rory had walked back across to her bed where she had climbed back onto it and was currently sat up on it deliberately not looking at Lorelai. Lorelai walked across the room and perched herself on the edge of Rory's bed.

Rory had felt the weight of Lorelai sitting on the edge of bed and she turned to face her.

"You said you wanted to talk, so start talking."

"First of all Rory let me start by apologising. This was not the way I wanted you to find out."

"And what would be the way you would of told me that my whole life had been a lie? Because I cannot think of any good way to tell anyone that! "

"I'm not sure. Somehow I would of found a way to tell you, some way not painful."

Rory rolled her eyes slightly and left our a huff of air.

"So you are not sure how you would tell me but yet you came here to beg.."Rory had almost wanted to say Mom, but she stopped herself. She had no idea who Mom was now. And the thought of calling that woman grandmother did not sit with her as well. That left her with her only one choice. "...Emily? Change my entire life on a whim because it was what you wanted. Damn the consequences it would cause any one else."

Lorelai jumped up and took a few steps away from the bed before she turned back round to face Rory.

"This was not a whim. Every year since your birth, every year since I was forced to give you to them I have asked the same question and have always got the same answer. I finally had enough of them saying no. Had enough of them trying to turn you into a clone of them. Had enough of them controlling every aspect of your life. Had enough of living a lie."

"How do you know what my life is like? You were never around, I barely saw you growing up at all. If you cared as you much as you said you would have been here, would of kept an eye on me. Or maybe had even raised me."

"Firstly, me raising you was never choice I had from the moment my parents found out I was pregnant that decision was taken away from me.  
And secondly, whilst you may not have seen me, I cared about what was happening to you whilst you were growing up. Got updates from Mom and Dad on your life, your friends, school life. But that came begrudgingly and with much cajoling. I just couldn't stand being here with all of you and hearing you call someone else Mommy. Every time I heard you do that it broke my heart in two So the only way I could face it was to see you only a few times a year."

Rory could see the tears pricking in Lorelai's eyes. She could see how much discussing this was pulling through her emotions. Raw Emotions.

Rory stopped over to Lorelai and placed her hand of Lorelai's arm. There was many questions she need to ask. How she ended up being raised by Emily and Richard considering how Lorelai seemed to want here, why her mother had ran from the Gilmore Mansion when she was a baby considering how at least she would had an chance to help raise Rory. But one was of most importance to her now. The person who seemed to now shape up half of her genetics.

"Lorelai" She said softly. "I'll understand if you don't want to tell me. But who is my father? "

"Of course I will tell you; you have every right to know who your father is. You remember people talking about Christopher. Christopher Hayden. He is your father."

"Your old boyfriend from when you were my age?"

"Yes! Why do ask?"Lorelai has a feeling where this question was going.

"I just thought."

"I know what you just thought Rory. Yes, I may have got pregnant young but I was not that type of girl. I never slept around. I believed I was in love at Christopher at that time, and even with us taking precautions you still came into existence."

"Didn't he have a choice about what happened to me?"

Lorelai sighed and pushed her hair back behind her ears.

"He did, but Chris is weak. He always has been. He way swayed by my parents and his that it was best that you were raised by Emily and Richard. That you could have a better life, a life that was not tainted by my shame."

Rory sat down on her vanity's stool and looked up at Lorelai.

"But how could they fake that you weren't pregnant. Wouldn't it be painfully obvious that you were and not Emily. And how could all there friends have kept quiet about it. That is one giant secret to keep for so many years."

Lorelai squatted down in front of Rory. And started to explain how everything had happened, how Emily and Richard had fooled Hartford society.

"As far as they all know you are there biologically child. When they found I was barely pregnant with you so I hadn't started showing yet. Emily faked her pregnancy, she fabricated her bump. She was in forties, so she was considered a bit old to be getting pregnant again considering how old I am but she was still young enough for it to be biologically true. As soon as I started showing I was shipped of to London and stayed there until the last possible moment I could during the period it was still safe for me to fly. I was then brought home and hidden away until I gave birth."

Rory looked at Lorelai deep in the eyes.

"How did they explain your absence? Wouldn't it look strange for there first child to be gone whilst her mother was carrying her second?"

"They said they had sent me away to boarding school. All there friends knew how much of a wild child I was, that they didn't want me stressing Mom out during her pregnancy considering her age. By the time I was sent to London, they didn't have to worry about my schooling. I was sixteen the age that there pupils finish mandatory education and they had taken there final exams. So I just lived at Grans house and was taken care off until it was time"

"And after I was born?" Rory asked "Did you have any involvement with me at all?"

"When you were very young I did. As you know I named you, one stipulation I always had. My mother also extolled the virtues of breast feeding for a young child's immune system. And I was the only person who could provide you that milk. Most of the time I was forced to pump and you were bottle feed. On occasion I would steal you away and feed you myself. When they started to wean you I was not needed any more and they pushed me away. Making sure you had no involvement with me and hammering into you that Emily was your mother."

"Is that why you ran?"

"Yes Sweetie. I couldn't live in this house day in and day out and see her pretending to be your Mother. It was killing me. So I left and carved out a life for myself. But I did not forgot about you for even a moment."

What they both hadn't realised whilst they had been talking was that Emily has sneaked into the room and had overheard the entire conversation.

"Lorelai, I dread to think what you are telling Rory. Your father and I never pushed you out of here. We just needed you to keep your distance from her; so not to confuse her. You wanted to be her mother, and we had not spent out time and our energy making sure that no-one knew that you were."

"Of course I wanted to be her Mother Mom! She was my daughter; my flesh and blood" Lorelai spat her "You, Dad and Christopher gave me no choice in being her mother!"

Emily stepped closer to her daughter.

"You were just Child Lorelai, how could you raised her. Taken care of her properly. You ran from us as soon as you could and took a job a a maid. A job so beneath a person of your status and intelligence"

"I stopped being a child Mom the moment I found out I was pregnant with Rory. And I would of find a way to take care of her. Other teenage mom's do. I don't look down at my job as maid, I learnt and worked my way up. If you every actually listened to anything I said you would know that I manage that Inn now, own my own home."

"And do you think you would have been able to do that with a child in tow?"

"Yes, I believe I would. Even without having Rory there I was striving to show I could give her a good life. That I could raise her, but you never gave me the chance. I told you I wanted her back every year on her birthday. But you and Dad always said no; even when you have no legally footing to base that on."

"What!" Rory called out. "How are they are not legally my parents? Wasn't I adopted by them when I was born?"

Lorelai turned towards Rory and took her right hand.

"No, you were never adopted by them. Legally I am still your mother in the eyes of the law. They never formally adopted you because of the paperwork involved and the fact that it would needed to be lodged with the local courthouse. If people went looking they could easily find that piece of paper that shows that your are not there child but there grandchild and there big secret would be out. That there only child was a teenage Mother and they had been hiding it from they so called society friends."

"But that means..." Rory said.

"There would be no but means Rory Lorelai Gilmore!" Emily yelled out. "You will be staying her with me and your father as Lorelai promised would happen all those years ago."

Rory snapped her head across and stared Emily in the face.

"You and my father? There is no need to keep the pretence up any more Emily! I know the truth. And whilst I am still upset with Lorelai, at least she is not demanding anything from me."

"Rory, how dare you speak to me in this manner."Emily was stunned at how Rory had spoken to her, she was normally such a mild manned girl.

"Do you expect me to be sweet to you still? You have lied to me from the day I was born. Kept my rapped up in cotton wool so I would repeat what my mother did. And you expect me to keep quiet now and not question my life. In the eyes of the law, I am not your child but your grandchild. Lorelai is my mother and legally she has the say in what happens to me. And as far as I am aware governmental law trumps the Gilmore family rules"

Rory stepped away from both of them and glanced down at her feet quickly before looking back up at the both of them.

"I may be upset with the both of you from keeping this from me. But one other person has been hurt as badly as me because of this secret." Rory swept her eyes across to her mother. "Lorelai, please can I stay with? I need to get out of this suffocating house.

Lorelai was stunned, her mother dropped and she was barely able to get out one word.

"What?"

"I want to live you with you Lorelai. I want to find out about the woman who I believed to be a sister is like as a mother."

A/N: I do not own The Gilmore Girls but I wish I did. The characters have been borrowed and turned into my playthings for a while. So don't sue me, I have nothing to give.

R/N: Please accept my delay updating. Shifts at work and illness do not make for a good writing companion for my sleep addled brain. Hope you enjoyed and please review. Reviews make me happy and make me smile!


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